Published: 15/08/2013 06:25 PM | Updated: 16/08/2013 07:41 AM

Live Coverage: Car bomb strikes Dahiyeh

A car bomb late Thursday afternoon went off on the main road between the Al-Roueiss and Bir al-Abed areas of Beirut's Hezbollah-stronghold of Dahiyeh, leaving at least 16 people dead and 226 injured according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

A group of masked men dubbing themselves the “Aisha, Mother of the Believers, Brigades for Foreign Missions” on Thursday evening posted a video on YouTube claiming responsibility for the car bomb.

The explosion comes the day after Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah gave an interview on Al-Mayadeen television in which he said his party's fighters had been behind the attack on Israeli soldiers just inside the Lebanese border on August 7.

Follow up-to-the-minute coverage here:

[22:20] Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati said that the hands of strife are attacking the country.

[22:02] Lebanon’s Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri said that the explosion that took place in Beirut’s Dahiyeh is a crime which only serves Israel’s interests.

[21:20] Firefighters extinguish flames at the site of Thursday’s bomb. (AFP)

[21:18] Emergency personnel and civilians gather at the site of Thursday’s car bombing in Beirut’s Dahiyeh. (AFP)

[20:50] The US on Thursday condemned the deadly car bomb that hit the southern Dahiyeh area of Lebanon's capital.

“US Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly strongly condemns today’s reported bombing in the southern suburbs of Beirut between the neighborhoods of Bir al-Abed and Al-Roueiss,” a statement issued by the US Embassy in Lebanon said.

[20:48] Aoun Lebanon’s Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said that the people who carried out the explosion that took place in Beirut’s Dahiyeh were not “human.”

[20:42] LBC: Large number of people gathered in front of Al-Sahel Hospital to visit injured people, donate blood.

[20:37] Amal MP Abdel Majid Saleh: The Israeli enemy and its agents had something to do with the Al-Roueiss explosion.

[20:33] Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh denounces terrorist explosion targeting Dahiyeh on anniversary of the end of the 2006 July War.

[20:30] Lebanon’s Prime Minsiter-designate Tammam Salam denounced the explosion that took place in Beirut’s Dahiyeh and called for joint efforts and support for the security forces and the Lebanese Armed Forces.